Diary of a girl at Sea – Sailing for the first time!

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Day 3

We started the day with a hearty breakfast of scrambled eggs and toast. Every morning we have to obtain a weather forecast, this is of course hugely important – today it was Jo’s task to find the Marina office before we left to get a forecast report. On our way out of Jolly Harbour we all practiced motoring Zigzag style through the buoys forwards and in reverse! When out of the harbour the next task on our list was to practice Man Overboard again. Heidi gave us the tasks again, however this time we accidentally had a double man overboard when one of the girls dropped the boat hook in! So we circled a few times to pick that up and then went to get the “man”. To be honest we were distracted by a large beautiful turtle in the sea! We sailed up the west coast for 6 hours, during which time we did more tacking, learnt another knot; each took turns at the helm. We also had a discussion on flags and where the various ensigns and burgees go – it was all so much to remember! Lunch was on the go today (cold pizza from last night). Natalie navigated us through the coral and we arrived at Great Bird Island late afternoon. What a beautiful picturesque location this was. We anchored, then took the dinghy to the island and had a swim at the idyllic beach, we walked over the top of the little island to view the blow hole, it was a real nature sanctuary. Back at the beach it was time to practice rowing in the dinghy. Natalie stayed on board to study so it was the 3 Comp Crew members! 2 of us rowing with the 3rd person shouting directions (but in fact singing tunes like the theme tune to “Hawaii five O” and of course “Row, Row, Row your boat”!) Not quite sure what Heidi our instructor thought but she took photos of us. Back on board we all went through our log book noting what we had achieved so far. Then Jo & Natalie made dinner – Veggie Pasta with Tomato sauce, yum! Being an all-girl crew the dinner chat inevitably turned to the subject of men! That night we were able to see some amazing stars, even though we were in the Caribbean it was a little cooler sitting out in the evening so light jumpers were donned.

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